This evening became eerily somber after we read this write-up from Institubes’ label manager and A&R boss Jean-René Etienne (via Emile Shahidi) on behalf of the entire Institubes’ upper brass. On the surface, the most disturbing fact to be drawn from his words is that Institubes has been hereby dissolved as an electronic music label — startling considering the mass talent-base they possess. But what’s perhaps more troubling is Etienne’s stark account of the music industry today, and the poison that saturates music politics. He paints a very disturbing picture that essentially calls-out unethical consumer behavior, problematic label etiquette, and the plain injustices of modernism. Among other things, he goes on to say:
“I could write ten pages about the realities and difficulties of the music business but you’ll only get about two paragraphs and not much whining. We never lived those halcyon days some industry elders tend to rave about. We always moved through a post-apocalyptic, terminally pauperized landscape, complete with irradiated A&R zombies and mutated eyeless bloggers. It’s always been a bit of an uphill battle. But it got worse and worse. At first it was fun to figure out ways to get people to check out our music. But once that’s done and you have something resembling an audience, it becomes apparent that this is not really your job. Your job is to reconcile the public with the very idea of buying records. All the power to you if you can bear it.”
This will surely send a shockwave throughout the entire industry, and we’re really eager to hear some of the responses from some of the more respected voices in the scene. Stay tuned, as I’m sure their will be no shortage of press here. What we can tell you at this point is there seems to be a whole lot of hype surrounding Marble at the moment. Stay tuned for more info.
Institubes (2003-2011)
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